French, Thai experts search for lost plane in Laos

PAKSE, Laos (AP) — International teams are in Laos today using high-tech electronics in an effort to penetrate the murky Mekong River to find a crashed Lao Airlines plane and 19 bodies.

Officials are also looking for clues to why the aircraft went down in bad weather three days earlier. A group of orange-robed Buddhist monks performed a prayer ceremony for the victims.

Until today, the search for bodies and the plane's flight data recorder had been stalled by lack of manpower and equipment in the poor Southeast Asian country, which lacks capabilities in disaster management. The foreign teams have high-tech sonar gear.

The ATR-72 turboprop aircraft crashed and disappeared into the river Wednesday as it tried to land in southern Laos. Half of those aboard the flight were foreigners from eight different countries, including the U.S.